CALL TO ORDER
REGIONAL TRANSIT AUTHORITY
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING
LOCATED AT 2817 CANAL STREET
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70119
TUESDAY, MAY 27, 2014 AT 10:00 A.M.
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chairman Salvador Longoria, Commissioner Flozell Daniels, Commissioner Connie Goodly, Commissioner Dominick Impastato, Commissioner Barbara Major, Commissioner Earline Roth, Commissioner Walter Tillery and Commissioner Sharon Wegner
INVOCATION:
Deslie Isidore gave the invocation. The Pledge of Allegiance followed.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
APRIL 22, 2014
Commissioner Goodly moved and Commissioner Daniels seconded to approve the minutes of April 22, 2014. Verbal Motion 14-016 was approved unanimously.
RTA CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
Chairman Longoria stated that anyone in the audience wanting to comment on a particular agenda item should fill out the purple form for comment before the Board casts its vote on that item.
Chairman Longoria stated that the RTA/Veolia does not tolerate discrimination of any kind and will not tolerate employees being harassed because of their race, ethnicity and sexual origination and this is not how RTA/Veolia functions and RTA/Veolia stands very firm on these principles and supports its employees.
Chairman Longoria welcomed his mother and sister to the RTA Board Meeting.
Chairman Longoria stated that The Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO), the national trade association for U.S. Microbusiness and Microfinance,
Chairman Longoria stated that on May 6, 2014, the RTA received an Association for Enterprise Opportunity’s Microbusiness Champions Award in the category that recognized and organization demonstrating outstanding leadership in diverse supplier development at the national Conference held in Orleans.
Chairman Longoria stated that Commissioners Daniels and Commissioner Major accepted the award on behalf of the RTA.
Commissioner Daniels stated that the (AEO) was the National Microbusiness Organization and it was an amazing chance for the RTA to be recognized for the leadership and diversity initiatives that the Board has taken on through the leadership of Judith Dangerfield and Janice Abadie.
Commissioner Daniels thanked the leadership of Veolia, Justin Augustine, and his staff and the Board of Commissioners, especially Commissioner Barbara Major.
RTA GENERAL COUNSEL’S REPORT
None
JEFFERSON PARISH REPORT
None
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT REPORT
Janice Abadie reported that FTA Funded Projects had 28% DBE Participation and Non – Federal Projects had 35% DBE Participation.
Janice Abadie reported that the total commitment to DBE’s in total dollars was $8.6 Million and the DBE Attainment was 37%.
Justin Augustine stated that the DBE’s around the City were very pleased with the RTA and its aggressiveness in putting the DBE Program together.
Judith Dangerfield stated that the Late Evening Service Plan was 60% complete and the consultants were working to determine what level of service and options to provide for workers in the hospitality and health care industry from 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. and the options would be brought to the workers.
Judith Dangerfield stated that staff met with four CEO’s of the major hotels and two of the CEO’s of the hospitals to discuss what would be a better way to get their employees to work and on time.
Judith Dangerfield stated that the next report would be brought to the Board at the July Board Meeting.
Patrice Mercadel stated that transportation was a key critical service that the entire nation relied on.
Patrice Mercadel stated that the ATU Union met with her and Justin Augustine to help call attention to Nation Call Congress Day in support of Transportation Funding on May 20, 2014 and that the Local ATU would have people in three different locations around the City with phones to call Congress members.
Patrice Mercadel stated that the Local ATU asked her to write a Public Service Announcement to inform people where locations of the phones were on May 20, 2014.
Patrice Mercadel stated that the Local ATU was featured on WBOK Radio Station.
Justin Augustine stated that the Tiger VI Grant had $600 Million available in discretionary funds and there were 797 applications requesting $9.5 Billion Dollars.
Justin Augustine stated that this shows that Transportation Properties around the country were in desperate need of funding and there was still no Transportation Bill.
Justin Augustine stated that the RTA went through the State Safety Rail Audit and the RTA had no findings.
Kevin Lawson stated that he wanted to congratulate the RTA Board and the Veolia Staff for a great audit.
Kevin Lawson stated that 3 years ago the RTA had 14 findings and 5 recommendations compared to this year with 9 recommendations and zero findings.
Kevin Lawson said that the Board should not be alarmed by the 9 recommendations because the recommendations were things that the RTA and DOTD agreed upon such as opening up a drop box account so that both parties could put information inside.
Kevin Lawson stated that the Audit was a smooth process that went very well and, at the end of July, the FTA would conduct a 3 year audit of RTA/Veolia.
Kevin Lawson stated that accidents were way down.
Kevin Lawson stated that MAP 21 was coming up and DOTD needed to do more inspections, more regulations, and more investigations on accidents and DOTD would hire a consultant to assist with these additional tasks.
Justin Augustine commended Marc Popkin and Mark Young for an excellent job handling the Audit.
Justin Augustine stated that around the nation, Rail Safety has become one of the most important priorities that the country has taken on because of all the rail accidents.
Justin Augustine stated that in New Orleans people use the Canal Street Streetcar and the St. Charles Streetcar as jogging paths and the RTA was working very hard to run a safe transit system.
SPECIAL CUSTOMER SERVICE REPORT
Nazires Tolliver stated that the RTA Ride-Line was staffed with seven (7) Customer Service Representatives. The hours of operation are Monday through Friday, from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Nazires Tolliver stated that the statistical data which reflects customer service complaints and commendations received for the month of April 2014 also includes a comparison of 2013/2014 statistical data for the month of April as it relates to Call Abandonment Rates and Complaints per 100,000 Passengers.
Nazires Tolliver stated that April seems to have gone up extremely high from last year. The new system categorizes complaints in a better way. The increase can be attributed to a change in the methodology by which complaints are recorded. (If a customer calls with multiple violations on one complaint, the system will categorize each infraction as a separate complaint). Increase in complaints can also be attributed to the crosstie work being performed on the St. Charles Line, along with other construction projects throughout the City. The major Sewerage and Water Board work on Louisiana, Napoleon, Jefferson, Magazine, and Claiborne Avenues are also contributing factors to the increase in customer service complaints.
Nazires Tolliver stated that the Call Abandonment rate has decreased by 4% from April 2013 to April 2014, and the number of complaints per 100,000 riders increased from 3 to 4. Although one complaint is too many, the four complaints per 100,000 passengers are within industry standards for systems of our size.
Nazires Tolliver stated that staff was committed to providing the best customer service possible to our customers and creating a positive customer service experience.
Nazires Tolliver stated that these complaints mainly consisted of operator attitude, late and early vehicles, fare card discrepancies, and infrequency in service schedule. All complaints are investigated through the surveillance equipment installed on the vehicles and the GPS system. Customers are communicated with regarding the results of the investigations into the complaints, and disciplinary actions are administered as required based on the validity of the complaints.
VEOLIA TRANSPORTATION SERVICES, INC. – FERRY REPORT
Mark Major stated that nothing could have gone forward regarding the Ferry until the Federal Marine Administrator reviewed and approved this transaction and on February 12, 2014 written approval was received from the Federal Marine Administrator for Veolia to operate the two (2) Ferry Routes.
Mark Major stated that the RTA entered into a Cooperative Endeavor Agreement with DOTD and RTA entered into an agreement with Veolia to operate the Ferry.
Mark Major stated that the two (2) agreements were effective February 16, 2014 and Veolia become the operator of the Ferry and the LADOTA went through the Civil Services process of terminating its employees and on April 20, 2014, LADOTD employees became Veolia employees and started operating the Canal Street Ferry, Algiers Point Ferry and Lower Algiers/Chalmette Ferry.
Mark Major stated that since February 16, 2014 to April 30, 2014, Veolia has transported, which includes automobiles, 223,571 customers and the two (2) highest ridership times were Mardi Gras 2014 and French Quarter Festival 2014.
Mark Major stated that the Canal Street Ferry was averaging 1,200 passengers and the Algiers Line was averaging 876 passengers a day; the numbers of passengers has increased to over 2,000 a day
Mark Major stated that Mardi Gras ridership for the four (4) day period Saturday to Tuesday was 34,915 and the French Quarter Festival exceeded those numbers.
Mark Major showed the Board of Commissioner pictures of the assets that Veolia was managing.
In response to Commissioner Major, Justin Augustine stated that any complaints regarding the ferry should be addressed to Veolia and not to the RTA Board. The RTA Board is not responsible for any complaints and concerns regarding the Ferry. The assets are still owned by the State and Veolia was just operating the service.
Commissioner Major stated that she wanted a progress report regarding the Ferry Service because people were going to call her when there were problems with the Ferry, so she wanted to be kept abreast of any problems.
Commissioner Major stated that the RTA has a responsibility to the public to move people because the RTA was in partnership with the public.
Justin Augustine stated that each month Veolia would present an Operations Report on the Ferry System to the Board.
Chairman Longoria stated that the perception of the public is that the RTA was overseeing the Ferry Services so the monthly reports were important.
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS PROGRESS REPORT
STREETCAR EXPANSION: RAMPART STREETCAR EXPANSION
Brendan Matthews stated that the 4th Construction documents should be completed and ready by the end of the month and the MOC would review and the authorization for solicitation should be on the June agenda.
Brendan Matthews stated that construction would take place by the end of the year and the project has a two year time frame.
.Commissioner Major thanked staff for helping bring the information regarding the project to the public and everyone in the community feels a part of the project.
Brendan Matthews stated that staff was trying to reduce the amount of time Canal Street would be closed to less than a month.
ST. CHARLES TIE REPLACEMENT
Brendan Matthews stated that the contractor has completed Phase VI and would complete Phase VII on June 8, 2014.
Brendan Matthews stated that the project completion was pushed back one month due to weather and utility conflicts.
Brendan Matthews stated that relocation of the waterline by Sewerage and Water Board was out of the guideway.
Brendan Matthews stated that there was a traffic solution to the red-light camera control box.
STATE OF GOOD REPAIR:
CARROLLTON FACILITY:
Fred Basha stated that the bidding process resulted in only one bid which was over budget, and the project needed to be re-bid after the engineers modified the specifications.
Justin Augustine stated that the larger bid was going to be broken down into smaller bids to benefit smaller companies.
Commissioner Major stated that anytime you can take a package and break it down to make it economically feasible for smaller companies, DBE’s had a chance to bid on the projects.
NAPOLEON FACILITY:
Fred Basha stated that the solicitation package for Remediation Work went out for public bid and staff received 2 bids and the contract was awarded to the lower bidder and this would allow the engineering work that need to be dome completed.
CANAL BLVD. STREETCAR/BUS TERMINAL:
Fred Basha stated that the Environmental Assessment was turned into FTA and he was working very closely with the FTA.
Fred Basha stated that the FTA reviewed the 30% Design and gave approval to move forward with engineering and have engineering completed by the end of the year.
STATUS OF FEMA PROJECT WORKSHEETS:
Fred Basha stated that the RTA received $103,000 Million from FEMA and FEMA was currently working with a very small team.
Fred Basha stated that the State PW close-out Team from Baton Rouge was working with the RTA to complete the close-out process.
Fred Basha stated that 88 PW’s were in the close out process with only 8 closed.
Justin Augustine stated that because of the financial nature of the project, an Audit Group would be hired to conduct an audit of the PW’s.
Commissioner Major stated that she wanted to have an independent audit complete before the feds audit the PW’s.
Justin Augustine stated that the scope for the audit has already been sent to the State for review.
In response to Commissioner Major, Fred Basha stated that the FEMA portion was $118 Million and the total with insurance was $130 Million.
Fred Basha stated that the Napoleon Building’s new PW was obligated at $765,439.00 and repairs were to be included in the State of Good Repair work; the FEMA version was in progress.
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Ronald Baptiste stated that for the month of April, the Operating Revenues Line Items ended the month approximately $700,000 better than budgeted and this was attributed to strong sales tax receipts for the month of February because now monies were coming in that had been due to the RTA from 60 to 90 days from previous months and year to date it was still ahead of budget.
Ronald Baptiste stated that the Passenger Fares Line Item was slightly under budget for the month and under budget year to date which had to do with construction activity and, during the budgetary process, staff anticipated that the increased services would occur sooner than they actually did so staff built into the budget the additional passengers and additional associated revenue and the RTA was recovering budgetary losses through the Sales Tax Revenue Line Item and maintaining the expenditures by the equation.
In response to Commissioner Major, Ronald Baptiste stated that the Sales Tax Revenue balances out when the Passenger Fare slows down.
In response to Commissioner Major, Ronald Baptiste stated that the significant portion of the positive variance and the Operations Revenue Line Item for the month and year to date were a result of higher Sales Tax Collection.
Commissioner Major asked that Ronald Baptiste give a Special Events Analysis for the Sales Tax Line Item when there are special events in the City.
Ronald Baptiste stated that the Total Operating Expenses Line Item was at budget for the month and year to date sales still where they were for the RTA last year.
Ronald Baptiste stated that the Passenger Revenue Line Item fell short and that is where the Sales Tax Revenue Line Item comes in stronger than anticipated and RTA has been holding expenses down.
Ronald Baptiste stated that the Non-Operating Expenses Line Item and the TMSEL Legacy Cost Line Item were slightly above for the month on Health/Medical Benefits which had a lot to do with timing and the claims that had come through for that period and, year to date, were still below in that area and doing better than anticipated.
Ronald Baptiste stated that on the Governmental Assistance Line Item, for the month there was a major variance for the Preventative Maintenance Line Item; the number was double counted and the correction was made this month and there was no adverse effect on the budget.
Ronald Baptiste stated that year to date RTA was still ahead on the Preventative Maintenance Line Item by $228,000.
Ronald Baptiste stated that on the Project Revenues and Expenditures Line Item, both the revenue and the expenditures matched up with one another and the net effect was that until it was spent, the RTA does not get it back and the funds would be spent once the contracts were awarded.
Ronald Baptiste stated that this month the expenditures were in excess of revenues and were a little more than what was budgeted and some of that had to do with the correction that was made on the financial statement but, year to date, the RTA was in a more positive position than what was budgeted.
2013 FINANCIAL AUDIT DRAFT – PRESENTATION
Sean Bruno stated that the audit went very well and the auditors were giving an unqualified opinion. This is a draft report so the Board can review the audit and come back with any questions and/or concerns
Sean Bruno stated that the audit was due to the Legislative Auditors on June 30, 2014 and that deadline would be met.
Sean Bruno stated that staff provided the necessary information requested in a timely manner and there was no disagreement with management.
Sean Bruno stated that during the audit, emphasis on those matters that pertained to subjective determinations by Management were Capital Assets, Appreciation, and Self-Insurance Liability and Pension.
Katherine Zuniga stated that the two (2) things that needed to be filed with the Legislative Auditors were the Audit Report, which includes the Financial Statement Audit, Management Discussion Analysis (MDA), Footnotes, and OMB A133 which is the Audit of the Federal Grants; also there was a Management Letter which the Legislative Auditor requires.
Katherine Zuniga stated that last year there were two (2) significant deficiencies that were remediated regarding the Management Letter; this year there were no significant deficiencies or material weaknesses.
Katherine Zuniga stated that there was one deficiency related to the Self-Insurance Reserves.
Katherine Zuniga stated that Net Position of the RTA was $233 Million and $216 Million was invested in Capital Assets, Net of Related Debt, $1.8 Million was Restricted and $5 Million was Unrestricted.
Katherine Zuniga stated that what was going to drive that was the lower Unrestricted Funds which would drive the debt rating and the ability to recover from national disasters and, the bigger that number would be, the stronger the RTA would be.
Katherine Zuniga stated that there were new accounting pronouncements that would impact the RTA in 2015.
Katherine Zuniga sated that on the OMBA 123 Audit there were no findings and an unqualified opinion would be given.
Katherine Zuniga stated that auditors were doing actuarial evaluations with the actuaries with the Pension and this evaluation could impact the Financial Statements.
Chairman Longoria stated that the Board would approve the audit at the June Meeting.
PROCUREMENT ACTIVITY REPORT:
Deslie Isidore stated that all the items presented had been verified by the Management Oversight Committee and the Procurement Procedures were in order and the pricing was reasonable.
TO SOLICIT:
TRACTION MOTORS – CANAL AND RIVERFRONT STREETCARS:
Deslie Isidore stated that staff was requesting approval to solicit for Traction Motors – Canal and Riverfront Streetcars.
Commissioner Major moved and Commissioner Daniels seconded to authorize staff to issue a solicitation for Traction Motors – Canal and Riverfront Streetcars. Verbal Motion 14-017 was approved unanimously.
AXLE BEARING CAPS – ST. CHARLES STREETCARS:
Deslie Isidore stated that staff was requesting approval to solicit for the Axle Bearing Caps – St. Charles Streetcars.
Commissioner Goodly moved and Commissioner Major seconded to authorize staff to issue a solicitation for the Axle Bearing Caps – St. Charles Streetcars. Verbal Motion 14-018 was approved unanimously.
TO AWARD:
GIGABIT ETHERNET NETWORK SWITCHES:
Deslie Isidore stated that staff was requesting to award a contract for Gigabit Ethernet Network Switches.
Commissioner Tillery moved and Commissioner Major seconded to authorize the Board to award a contract to Enterprise Systems Corporation. Resolution No. 14-030 was adopted unanimously.
TO AMEND:
RTA/ENTERGY REIMBURSEMENT AGREEMENT – RAMPART STREET/ST. CLAUDE AVENUE STREETCAR:
Deslie Isidore stated that staff was asking approval to amend the contract for Entergy.
Commissioner Major moved and Commissioner Roth seconded to authorize the Board to amend the contract with Entergy New Orleans. Resolution No. 14-031 was adopted unanimously.
ON CALL ARCHITECTURAL/ENGINEERING SERVICES:
Deslie Isidore stated that staff was asking approval to amend the contract for the On Call Architectural/Engineering Services.
Commissioner Goodly moved and Commissioner Major seconded to authorize the Board to amend the contract with CDM Smith. Resolution No. 14-032 was adopted unanimously.
TO RATIFY:
CERTIFIED HAZARDOUS MATERIAL ABATEMENT CONTRACTOR
Deslie Isidore stated that staff was asking approval to ratify the contract for the Certified Hazardous Material Abatement Contractor .
Commissioner Goodly moved and Commissioner Major seconded to authorize the Board to ratify the contract with Cross Environmental Services, Inc. Resolution No. 14-033 was adopted unanimously.
PROCUREMENT STATUS REPORT:
Deslie Isidore reported that the Procurement Activity Report was in the Commissioners’ binders.
GRANTS
FY 2014 SECTION 5307 GRANT APPLICATION – FERRY OPERATING ASSISTANCE:
Deslie Isidore stated that staff was requesting authorization to file a Grant Application under Section 5307 for Operating Assistance for the Passenger Ferry System for FY 2014 under Section 5307.
In response to Commissioner Daniels, Justin Augustine stated that because it was Grant 5307, the RTA did not have to put up any money; the law states that if the RTA incurs expenses up to $1.3 Million, and the RTA will, the Federal Government will reimburse the RTA half of the money.
In response to Chairman Longoria, Justin Augustine stated that technically there were no local match just expenses.
Commissioner Goodly moved and Commissioner Major seconded to authorize staff to file a grant application under Section 5307 for Operating Assistance for the Passenger Ferry System for FY 2014 under Section 5307. Resolution No. 14-034 was adopted unanimously.
OPERATIONS REPORT
Edward Bednarczyk stated that ridership for April, 2014 was up and accidents were down.
Edward Bednarczyk stated that he wanted to thank the Operators and Staff for the effort that was put in for Jazz Fest; it takes two (2) weekends out of everyone’s life to move all the passengers riding the system.
Edward Bednarczyk stated that since there was a slow increase in accidents so staff decided that the Second Quarter Safety and Training Meetings would deal with operations on the street to train those operators who were not familiar with the Operator Development Program and those operators received additional training.
Edward Bednarczyk stated that those operators that had accidents were going to receive the necessary tools to prevent them from further accidents.
Edward Bednarczyk stated that he knows that Operations has challenges on some routes due to the construction taking place around the City so the dispatching staff looked at the on time performance in the queue and tried to spread out the buses.
ADA COMPLIANCE REPORT
Karen Sider reported that 508 persons visited the ID Center in April.
Karen Sider reported that 227 ID Cards, 75 senior cards, 21 fixed-route, 61 ADA cards and 73 Medicare Cards had been issued and 281 people came in for applications or information.
Karen Sider reported that 192 ADA applications had been received, 87 approved, 27 denied, and 27 fixed route applications were received and processed and 75 ADA requests for applications were mailed.
Karen Sider reported that the Paratransit office had 22,358 requests for trips and 17,075 completed trips with an on-time performance of 86.30%.
Karen Sider reported that on fixed-route, 93,276 individuals paid the reduced fare of 40 cents and 4,024 ADA clients rode free. There were also 1,840 wheelchair passengers and 5,775 bike riders on the fixed route vehicles.
Karen Sider reported that RTA participated in the New Orleans Council on Aging’s Annual Senior Fest on May 9th. Information was provided to more than 600 seniors, and they were entertained by several bands and guest speakers.
Karen Sider reported that on May 15, 2014, Commissioner Earline Roth conducted her quarterly Consumer Meeting in the RTA Board Room from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Approximately 50 seniors attended to express their views on the RTA Paratransit Service.
VARIOUS INSURANCE COVERAGES
Deslie Isidore stated that staff was requesting to award a contract for Various Insurance Coverages.
Commissioner Major moved and Commissioner Roth seconded to authorize the Board to award a contract for Various Insurance Coverages. Resolution No. 14-035 was adopted unanimously.
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU)
LOUISIANA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HOSPITALS – AMENDMENT:
Deslie Isidore state that staff was asking the Board to approve the amendment to the Memorandum of Understanding – Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. The Memorandum of Understanding allowed Medicaid recipients to go to and/or from providers of covered medical services when all other means of transportation (at no cost to the recipient) have been explored and found to be unavailable.
Commissioner Major moved and Commissioner Goodly seconded to authorize the Board to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding – Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. Resolution No. 14-036 was adopted unanimously
NEW BUSINESS (UNANIMOUS VOTE REQURIRED TO CONSIDER)
None
AUDIENCE QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS
In response to Lorraine Washington, Justin Augustine stated that the transit police officers were uniformed NOPD officers that were members of the NOPD but were assigned to the RTA and the RTA has an agreement with the City that the RTA pays 40% of the assigned officers’ services.
In response to Lorraine Washington, Justin Augustine stated that it was an Inter-Agency Agreement between the City and the RTA.
In response to Lorraine Washington, Justin Augustine stated that the agreement was enter into in 1983.
In response to Lorraine Washington, Justin Augustine stated that the City of New Orleans deducts the NOPD payments from the Sales Tax that it collects for the RTA.
In response to Lorraine Washington, Justin Augustine stated that the RTA has 4 NOPD Officers.
In response to Lorraine Washington, Justin Augustine stated that the officers were assigned system wide; there were no district assignments.
In response to Lorraine Washington, Justin Augustine stated that the NOPD was not required by law but it was a practice around the country with different transit agencies to have local police officers on duty.
Jan Fenner stated that she came to last month’s Board Meeting and spoke regarding issues with the Magazine Bus and she wanted to report this month that things were going really well.
Jan Fenner stated that whatever staff had done was working and the Magazine bus was running smoother.
Jan Fenner stated that she wanted Veolia to extend the ferry hours.
Jan Fenner thanked the RTA for all its hard work getting the Magazine Bus running better.
Jan Fenner stated that passengers were not allowed to complain if they didn’t come back and also give good news.
Sherilyn Claverie stated that the RTA has several dangerous intersections such as, Paris Avenue at Gentilly and St. Bernard Avenue at Broad Street.
Sherilyn Claverie stated that a lot of bus stops do not have shelters.
Sherilyn Claverie stated that on January 13, 2014 on bus #52 the St. Bernard Bus had to stop on Tulane Avenue because there was a fight on the bus between passengers around 1:30pm and the Operator tried to call the dispatcher and did not get any assistance.
Commissioner Major stated that she knows that there are a lot of areas around the City that the RTA could not put up bus shelters and she asked that Ms. Claverie let the RTA know where the shelters were needed.
Alexandra Miller stated that she was representing Ride New Orleans and she spoke about the Rampart Streetcar.
Alexandra Miller stated that Ride New Orleans has heard from many riders that they were very concerned about the impact of the streetcar line on the existing routes, such as the St. Claude, Franklin and Jackson/Esplanade Routes.
Alexandra Miller stated that she wanted to recommend that the RTA not eliminate these bus lines when the streetcar was built because without a dedicated lane, the levels of service would be inadequate.
Alexandra Miller stated that Ride New Orleans was recommending that all the existing routes stay in place when the Rampart Streetcar was finished so all the passengers would be accommodated.
James Guilbeau stated that it was promised years ago that the Carrollton Line would operate directly on Carrollton, Canal and Esplanade and it was not done.
James Guilbeau stated that when there were special events on the Riverfront the passengers have to transfer and he asked why the Loyola Line couldn’t operate to the River.
James Guilbeau asked why the Riverfront Line couldn’t be extended to Henderson Street.
James Guilbeau stated that for special events part of Convention Center Blvd. was blocked off and no one was talking of extending the Riverfront Line.
James Guilbeau stated that the RTA should put up new signs on the streetcars and buses with a big eye stating “Big Brother Is Watching You”.
Chairman Longoria stated that new signs would be put on all the streetcars and buses and the Board Members were going to ride the craziest lines to start doing Public Service Announcements on the routes.
Chairman Longoria stated that Veolia, MOC and Staff were dealing with the issues on the Riverfront and there was a Master Plan for the Riverfront.
Commissioner Major stated that the RTA Staff needed to meet with the Department of Public Works regarding the cross walks on St. Bernard and Broad Streets.
James Guilbeau stated that the Department of Public Works needed to install “A Push to Walk Button”.
James Guilbeau stated that on Canal Street where the Loyola Streetcar connected with Canal Street, when the streetcar approaches the RTA needed to have all the lights turn red so all the autos would stop so the streetcar could make the turn.
Justin Augustine stated that staff went out to look at all the new service routes that the Board approved including the routes, crosswalks, signage, bus pads, bus shelters and park-n-ride locations and staff met with operators to make sure these routes are successful and all the information that staff collected was shared with the City so they could work with the RTA to make these routes successful.
Commissioner Major stated that the public should contact their respective City Council persons for signage and crosswalks along intersections.
EXECUTIVE SESSION (2/3RDS VOTE TO CONSIDER)
Deferred
• MARY SMITH ETAL VS RTA ETAL 2;12 – cv-03059
• RTA VS TMSEL PENSION PLAN BOARD - CDC NO. 2013- 01638, DIV. “L”
ADJOURNMENT
Commissioner Daniels moved and Commissioner Goodly seconded to adjourn the Board Meeting of May 27 2014 at 11:32 a.m. Verbal Motion No. 14-015 was approved unanimously.
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